"We didn’t think much of it," Carreiro said. The funnel cloud was to the left of them, he said, and it looked like it was moving towards Middleboro. "The wind in the back of the cloud was moving downwards toward the ground and the clouds in the front were moving upward. It was moving insanely quick through the sky."

The National Weather Service had issued a "tornado warning" until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday for parts of Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth counties.

A storm system moving through Massachusetts on Tuesday afternoon was sparking isolated severe thunderstorms to form, bringing the threat of hail, lightning and isolated tornadoes.

The storms were ahead of another surge of unseasonably chilly air that was expected to move into the region later this week.

Taunton Public Schools Superintendent John Cabral said on Tuesday afternoon that students participating in the Middle School All-City Cross-Country Meet needed to be evacuated into the high school field house after warnings were issued.

"The last race was over by that time, and we got all the kids in safely," he said, adding that students were then picked up after the warnings were lifted.

Shortly after the warnings were issued, TEMA Director Rick Ferreira said that his office had been "inundated" with calls from concerned residents.

Ferreira said that there were no reports of damage as of around 5 p.m., but said that some of the photos and videos posted online that were also sent to the office were "quite impressive".

“When they (residents) hear tornado, we take that seriously...you don’t fool around with tornadoes,” he said, advising local residents to remain sheltered in the event of any future tornado warnings.

Ferreira said that he was impressed with the number of warnings and alerts he had received from various sources - including those via smartphone - and touted improvements in weather technology over the years.

"When I first came on the job 19 years ago, there were no warnings (like this). To be getting the warnings and alerts today, it was phenomenal," he said, adding that tornadoes - like other natural disasters - do not allow for a large window of preparation time.

"(Tornado warnings) are certainly of concern, we don't see that in this area."

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